Aims and scope
Abstracting and indexing 
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Testimonials
Average Lead Times
Contact us

Aims and scope

The Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice (JPFPC) was founded in 1983 by Professor Domenico da Empoli in the spirit of the Italian discipline of Scienza delle finanze. According to this approach, economic analysis should include individual motivations in non-market settings, political institutions and collective decision making.

Relaunched in 2018 in partnership with Bristol University Press and an outstanding, international editorial board, JPFPC will be revitalised in print and online while maintaining its commitment to publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed research.

JPFPC is unique in the international landscape of public economics journals, because it is committed to explicitly advancing knowledge in both public finance and public choice, reflecting an inclusive approach. To this end, it welcomes submissions from economics, as well as from cognate disciplines (geography, law, political science, sociology), that contribute to our understanding of the public economy and its broader constitutional, legal and political economy matrix.

JPFPC prefers contributions in public finance and public choice that are original, topical and policy relevant and approach topics in innovative ways. It welcomes submissions of manuscripts that are empirical or theoretical, including papers on the history of economic thought and on economic methodology. JPFPC moreover welcomes behavioural, experimental and multidisciplinary approaches.

When considering a contribution's added value, JPFPC values originality over formalism.

JPFPC encourages submissions of manuscripts within its scope that contribute to its reputation as a high-quality outlet.

Abstracting and indexing 

The Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice is currently indexed in:

• Econlit
• Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
• ECONIS
• European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH)
• Scopus

It is also included in the following accredited publication lists:

• ANVUR
• Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC)
• Haut conseil de l'evaluation de la recherche et de l'enseignement superieur (HCERES) listes de revues
• Information Matrix for the Analysis of Journals (MIAR)
• Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers
• Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Accredited Journals List 

Impact Metrics:

• Dimensions
• Google Scholar
• Scopus

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion statement outlines the ways in which we seek to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion are integral to all aspects of our publishing, and how we might encourage and drive positive change. 

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Testimonials

“New technology and dynamic editorial talent mark both the return of the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice and a significant milestone in the history of transoceanic cooperation between scholars of Public Finance and Public Choice.”
Professor J. R. Clark, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA

Average Lead Times

2022 lead times

Submission to first decision: 22 days
Submission to final decision: 86 days
Acceptance to online publication: 36 days
Acceptance rate: 21%

Contact us

Editorial enquiries:

Editorial team: jpfpc2018@gmail.com

Open access, subscriptions and free trials:

Policy Press: bup-journals@bristol.ac.uk

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Read our instructions for authors for guidance on how to prepare your submissions. The instructions include the following: 

What are we looking for?
How to submit an article
Ethical guidelines
Style
Alt-text
References
Copyright and permissions
Open Access
Self-archiving and institutional repositories
Editorial review process
English language editing service
How to maximise the impact of your article
Contact us

Visit our journal author toolkit for resources and advice to support you through the publication process and beyond.

What are we looking for?

• Research articles: A submitted manuscript should make a clear and concise contribution to knowledge with a novel thesis or finding. A successful manuscript attracts attention with its title, poses its central research question at the outset of the abstract, and succinctly asserts its argument in the introduction. We expect the average article to be below 13,000 words in length (including footnotes, references, tables, figures etc.).
   
• Other article types: JPFPC also welcomes review essays (up to 13,000 words), literature surveys (up to 13,000 words), letters (up to 3,500 words) and comment pieces (up to 3,500 words).
   
• Special issues: JPFPC welcomes proposals for special issues, which should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief and Editor for consideration at: jpfpc2018@gmail.com.

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How to submit an article

All submissions should be made online at the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice Editorial Manager website:  https://www.editorialmanager.com/jpfpc/default.aspx.

Editorial Manager

Manuscripts must be in Word or Rich Text Format, not pdf (unless authors are using LaTex). New users should first create an account, specify their areas of interest and provide full contact details.

Preparing your anonymised manuscript

Your initial submission must consist of the following separate files:

1. A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations (institution affiliation and country only, no department details required), the article abstract (up to 250 words), up to five key words/short phrases, up to five JEL codes, and the article word count including references. A cover page template is available to download here.
2. A fully anonymised manuscript which does not include any of the information included in the cover page. It should not include any acknowledgments, funding details, or conflicts of interest that would identify the author(s). References to the author's own work should be anonymised as follows: 'Author's own, [year]'. Please note that submissions that have not been sufficiently anonymised will be returned.
3. If you have any figures and tables these can be included in the manuscript on the first submission but must be uploaded as separate files at the end of the manuscript when submitting the final version. Please indicate where these should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate. 
4. In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.

For help submitting an article via Editorial Manager, please view our online tutorial.

Once a submission has been conditionally accepted, you will be invited to submit a final, non-anonymised version.

Checklist: what to include in your final, accepted non-anonymised manuscript

1. A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations (institution affiliation and country only, no department details required), the article abstract (up to 250 words), up to five key words, up to five JEL codes and the word count.
2. Funding details: list any funding including the grant numbers you have received for the research covered in your article as follows: 'This work was supported by the [Funding Agency] under Grant [number xxxx].'
3. Conflict of interest statement: please declare any possible conflicts of interest, or state 'The author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest' if there are none. Find out more about declaring conflicts of interest in the Bristol University Press ethical guidelines.
4. Acknowledgements: acknowledge those who have provided you with any substantial assistance or advice with collecting data, developing your ideas, editing or any other comments to develop your argument or text.
5. Figures and tables: should be included as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where these should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate. For advice about less common file formats, please contact dave.j.worth@bristol.ac.uk.
6. In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.
7. Supplemental data: We recommend that any supplemental data are hosted in a data repository (such as figshare) for maximum exposure, and are cited as a reference in the article.
8. Copyright assignment agreement: please upload a scanned copy of the completed and signed Copyright assignment agreement with your final non-anonymised manuscript.

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Ethical guidelines

At Bristol University Press we are committed to upholding the highest standards of review and publication ethics in our journals. Bristol University Press is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), and will take appropriate actions in cases of possible misconduct in line with COPE guidance.

Find out more about our ethical guidelines.

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Style

• British English spelling and punctuation is preferred.
• Non-discriminatory language is mandatory. See our guidelines to sensitive language (appendix C of document).
• Footnotes should be kept to a minimum. If it is necessary to use them, they must be numbered consecutively in the text.
• The final submitted file should be clear of track changes and ready for print.

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Alt-text

In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. See our guidance on writing alt-text.

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References

Download the Endnote output style for Policy Press and Bristol University Press journals.

Bristol University Press uses a custom version of the Harvard system of referencing:

• In-text citations: give the author’s surname followed by year of publication in brackets.
• List all references in full at the end of the article and remove any references not cited in the text.
• Book and journal titles should be in italics.
• Website details should be placed at the end of the reference.
• Spell out all acronyms in the first instance.

Example of book reference:
Dorling, D. (2010) Injustice: Why social inequality persists, Bristol: Policy Press.

Example of journal reference:
Warin, P. (2012) 'Non-demand for Social Rights: A new challenge for social action in France', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 20(1): 41-53.

Example of chapter within edited / multi-authored publication:
Levitas, R. (2011) 'Utopia Calling: Eradicating child poverty in the United Kingdom and beyond', in A. Minujin and S. Nandy (eds), Global Child Poverty and Well-being: Measurement, concepts, policy and action, Bristol, Policy Press. pp. 449-73.

Example of website reference:
Womensaid (2016) What is domestic abuse? https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/.

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Copyright and permissions

The Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice is published by Bristol University Press. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that on acceptance the entire copyright shall pass to the Associazione Economia delle Scelte Pubbliche.

Authors will be asked to sign a copyright agreement to this effect, which should be submitted online along with the final manuscript. All authors should agree to the copyright assignment. For jointly authored articles the corresponding author may sign on behalf of co-authors provided that they have obtained the co-authors' consent for copyright assignment. The copyright assignment agreement can be downloaded here.

Where copyright is not owned by the author(s), the corresponding author is responsible for obtaining the consent of the copyright holder. This includes figures, tables and excerpts. Evidence of this permission should be provided to Bristol University Press. General information on rights and permissions can be found here.

To request permission to reproduce any part of articles published in the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, please email Bristol University Press: pp-info@bristol.ac.uk. For information on what is permissible use for different versions of your article, please see our policy on self archiving and institutional repositories.

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Editorial review process

All submissions are first desk-reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editor who will assess whether the manuscript fits the aims and scope as well as the quality standards of JPFPC. Papers that are selected to be sent out for review will be evaluated through double-anonymous peer review by at least two referees. We aim to return referee reviews along with an initial decision within four weeks.

Please also see our Journals Editorial Policies.

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Contact us

If you have queries regarding the submission process, please email the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice for assistance: jpfpc2018@gmail.com

JPFPC contributors are invited to submit an evaluation of their experience with JPFPC with a journal reviewer.

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Editorial Board

Domenico da Empoli (1941-2016), Founding Editor
Giampaolo Garzarelli, Editor-in-Chief; Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
Emma Galli, Editor; Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
Stefano da Empoli, Advisory Editor; Università di Roma Tre, Italy
James Alm, Consulting Editor; Tulane University, USA
Richard E. Wagner, Consulting Editor; George Mason University, USA
John J. Wallis, Consulting Editor; University of Maryland, USA
Barry R. Weingast, Consulting Editor; Stanford University, USA
Ronald Wintrobe, Consulting Editor; Western University, Canada
Manoel Bittencourt, Associate Editor; University of Pretoria, South Africa
Rosolino Candela, Associate Editor; George Mason University, USA
Michael Dorsch, Associate Editor; Central European University, Austria
Nadia Fiorino, Associate Editor; Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy
Marianne Johnson, Associate Editor; University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA
Thierry Madiès, Associate Editor; Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
Ilia Murtazashvili, Associate Editor; University of Pittsburgh, USA
Michele Trimarchi, Associate Editor; Università di Catanzaro, Magna Graecia, Italy

Scientific Committee

John Ashworth, Durham University, UK
Monica Auteri,  Università di Roma Tre, Italy
Alberto Batinti, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
Bruno Bises, Università di Roma Tre, Italy
Frank Bohn, Radboud University, Netherlands
Christopher J. Coyne,  George Mason University, USA
Paolo Di Caro, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Italy
Silvia Fedeli,  Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
Lars Feld, Walter Eucken Institute, Freiburg, Germany
Fabio Fiorillo, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy
Michele Giuranno, Università del Salento, Italy
Rajeev K. Goel, Illinois State University, USA
Veronica Grembi, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Matthew Holian, San José State University, USA
Manfred Holler, University of Hamburg, Germany
Roberto Iacono, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Louis Imbeau, Université Laval, Canada
Philip Jones, University of Bath, UK
Lyndal Keeton, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Peter Leeson, George Mason University, USA
Alain Marciano, Laboratoire Montpellierain d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, France
Nimai Mehta, American University, USA
Franklin Mixon, Jr., Columbus State University, USA
Pablo Paniagua Prieto, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile
Massimiliano Piacenza, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy
Paola Profeta, Bocconi University, Italy
Jørn Rattsø, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Roberto Ricciuti, Università di Verona, Italy
Ilde Rizzo, Università di Catania, Italy
Stefania P. S. Rossi, Università di Trieste, Italy
Agnese Sacchi, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
Carla Scaglioni, Università “Mediterranea” di Reggio Calabria, Italy
Aldo Sitoe, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Gilberto Turati, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
Massimiliano Vatiero, University of Trento, Italy; Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
Francisco José Veiga, Universidade do Minho, Portugal
Stanley L. Winer, Carleton University, Canada

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Archive

You can now access the historic content from the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice with our archive, available for outright purchase. The archive includes:

• Perpetual access to an archive dating back to 1983 
• 70 issues with over 450 articles written by leading international experts 

  Want to learn more? Email bup-digital@bristol.ac.uk for further information or to request a quote. 

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Order a personal print subscription of the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice.